Fed up of being overcharged just because a venue is located in the City? At this South African-themed bar, you'll be pleased to hear you get value for money.

The Venue
Located in the centre of the City, this modern-looking venue is very typical of its surroundings. From the outside, it's very clean-looking with large glass windows showing off the generic-looking inside, where you will find light-coloured wooden tables and floors, with small carpeted patches, plenty of seating and a huge bar area to meet the demand of City folk who are after a hard-earned drink.

The bar area is really huge and there's extremely high ceilings which are used to their full advantage, providing another mezzanine area with a second bar. Dotted around the venue are a selection of plasma screens showing sport.

The Atmosphere
Walking into this bar is much like walking into a lot of other bars in the area. During Monday to Wednesday, it's pretty quiet outside of the lunchtime rush, aside from a few people taking advantage of the free wi-fi and, when there's a sporting event being shown, or during the Thursday and Friday night City binges, it can be pretty hectic and, despite there being loads of seating available, it's hard to find a good perching or eating spot. Despite this being a predominantly corporate venue, it's not as pretentious as some of the surrounding venues – you won't feel too out of place not being suited if you're passing and want to pop in.

Staff at the venue are friendly and, although they get rushed at busy periods, they're always willing to help and offer their recommendations. You can't always hear the background music in really busy periods, but it's all pretty inoffensive and easy-listening tracks are played alongside more modern pop tunes.

The Food
Eating at Cape Bar isn't an outstanding experience but it will definitely do the trick if you're looking for something to fill you up while you're having a few drinks. The venue is South African-themed and some of the food, such as the chakalaka, a spicy South African chutney relish, is a nice touch. All of the food is really reasonably priced when you compare it to similar establishments in the area.

The house platter (£10 for two people, £15 for three) is a good sharing dish – it comes with a good selection of the starters that are sold separately for around £3 to £4 each. You will receive chicken and chorizo skewers, Southern-fried chicken fillets, whitebait, garlic ciabatta with cheese, chips and Cape onion rings. The quality isn't amazing – the whitebait is more batter than fish and the southern-fried chicken, whilst well-seasoned, tastes a bit processed – but the portions are hefty considering what you're paying. The lightly battered red onion rings are also a lot less greasier than some onion rings and, rather than just being a ready-made oven variety, the chips taste more like home-cut wedges. The garlic ciabatta is also generously coated with cheese.

If you're looking for a non-meat based starter or light main course, the battered field mushroom with goat’s cheese and home-made onion chutney (£4) is definitely good value as the portion is huge. It might be a bit OTT on the batter but it's nicely crispy and the field mushroom and goat's cheese are both rich in flavour and go really well together. It's almost too big to have on your own if you're planning on a main course afterwards.

Fancy something larger? The venue offers a range of main course dishes, including traditional British favourites such as pie and mash, sausage and mash, and fish and chips, alongside South African-themed red snapper and Mediterranean-inspired dishes. There are also four burgers and two steaks on offer as well as salads.

The couscous (£6) is great value. It comes with peri peri roasted veg which, while well cooked, is a little flavourless and it’s hard to detect the spice from the peri peri at all. The salad that comes with it is essentially a bit of rocket thrown in for good measure. The sour cream is a nice addition but really isn't needed because the chilli heat is lacking.

The rigatoni pasta with chicken strips, arrabiata sauce and garlic ciabatta (£6.50) is again good value but weak on flavour and it needs a lot of seasoning to liven it up. The garlic ciabatta, however, is delicious. It's fresh, crispy and the garlic is potent without being too overpowering.

The desserts are the highlight of the food at Cape Bar and at £3.50 each they’re a lot cheaper than other venues nearby. The cookie cups with toffee sauce, broken Flake pieces and ice cream are an original idea and taste delicious. The portion is also ideal to share. While the cups are very treacle-like and chewy in texture, the ice cream in the centre really complements the flavour. The crumbly Flake pieces are a nice touch, too, and literally melt in your mouth when mixed with the ice cream. If you're after a lighter dessert – the scrumptious chocolate orange fondant is a great choice. The light sponge is suitably soft, tastes lush and the syrupy inside isn't too rich. The sweet flavour is nicely balanced by the subtle orange zest.

The Drink
To meet the standards of a lot of City venues, the bar offers a fair selection of wines. Whilst the house wines are Australian and Spanish, the majority of wines are South African, which is consistent with the venue’s brand. They're also not that badly priced and you're looking at paying around £16 for a decent bottle.

They're also a lot of beers on offer and the venue serves real ale. Draught pints include Fosters, Kronenbourg, Leffe, John Smith's, Becks Vier, Guinness, Strongbow, Adnams Broadside, London Pride and Young's Ordinary, while there are bottles of South African Savana and the better known Peroni and Hoegaarden, amongst others. Expect to pay around £3 to £4 a pint. The bar also serves a good selection of soft drinks and fresh smoothies.

The Last Word
Yes, it may be just another link in a big chain but Cape Bar offers great value for money and has a fantastic atmosphere during big sporting events.

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